801号房. . .内心深处的心声

The Lantern Festival (元宵节) also known as the Shang Yuan Festival (上元节) is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year in the Chinese calendar. It is not to be confused with the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also sometimes known as the “Lantern Festival” in locations such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia.
The Chinese Lantern Festival is the last day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebration period. The Lantern Festival is also known as the Little New Year since it marks the end of the series of celebrations starting from the Chinese New Year. Koreans celebrate this festival as the Daeboreum.
During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night carrying bright lanterns. In ancient times, the lanterns were fairly simple, for only the emperor and noblemen had large ornate ones; in modern times, lanterns have been embellished with many complex designs. For example, lanterns are now often made in shapes of animals.

Traditionally, the date once served as a day for love and matchmaking. It was one of the few nights in ancient times without a strict curfew. Young people were chaperoned in the streets in hopes of finding love. Matchmakers acted busily in hopes of pairing couples. The brightest lanterns were symbolic of good luck and hope.

Those who do not carry lanterns often enjoy watching informal lantern parades. Other popular activities at this festival include eating tangyuan (汤圆), a sweet glutinous rice dumpling served in a sugary soup, and guessing lantern riddles, often messages of love.

It’s also another reunion dinner tradition in my family, where everyone in the family would try to return home early to have a meal together. It’s usually steam boat, where we have our meals over laughter. Right after a good hearty meal, it’s tangyuan time! Love this Chinese tradition desert! Love it especially when it comes to that you has to knead the dough yourself and add colour to the dough. Love this process!
Here’s my little secret recipe for the tangyuan dough.

Use glutinous rice flour, depends on how many serving you want. I usually use half a pack.
Boil a pot of pandan leaves water. (My mum planted at least 2 pots of pandan leaves) I love pandan flavour water as it enhances the fragrance of the dough. In this case, I can leave out the sugar content in the dough. It depends on what soup base you want to have. Once the dough is done, I usually love to have it set in the fridge for about an hour. I will prepare a set of dough which is added with edible red food dye. Just a small tiny winy drop will do. We just want the colour will do. It’s usually pink in colour. This is because, in Chinese customs, white is usually associate with death, and it’s an auspicious period of the year in the lunar calendar, therefore a lot of red will be added. In this case, it symbolise a good balance of ying and yang.

Now the soup base, this time, mum told me that it’s going to be long-gan soup base. Now for the soup base; boil a pot of pandan flavour fragrance water. Add 5 tablespoon of brown sugar after the dry long-gan has been added. This time round, I will not add any ginger, as in Chinese cuisine and Traditional Chinese Medicine, ginger and long-gan does not mix well, as it is believe that both sources emits ‘heat’ as long-gan itself is a ‘heaty’ food. Red dates can be added to taste and flavour. Once the soup base is done, turn off the stove and leave it for serving later.

Boil another pot of water; this is to simmer your tangyuan dough. The dough is ready when it surfaces to the surface of the boiling water. I will prepare another pot of iced water (with ice cubes) this is to ensure that the tangyuan has a nice texture when chewed.

This is to be done in a real fast mode; otherwise your tangyuan will have a rubber texture. You have to drain off the excess chill water of your tangyuan before transferring them into serving bowl. Then the last step will be the serving of the soup base. And this is done!